Beverage cooler



May5 1936 HRRUSE' 2%9555 BEVERAGE COOLER I Filed Feb. 15, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet L %WWW@ g. Z Z 'Wf May 5, 1936. H. R. RUSE 2,639,556

BEVERAGE COOLER Filed Feb. 15, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 5, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

My invention relates to a heat exchange device and. is particularly applicable to a beverage serving cooler.

In my invention I place a great length of tubing in a conducting medium, such as water, and through this tubing the refrigerant passes. The liquid to be cooled is passed through other tubes, preferably arranged in vertical parallel helices, and the cooling tube is wound in and out adjacent to and around alternate helices, so that a horizontal view of two adjacent formations of the refrigerant tube appears like a figure 8, or a lemniscate, any number of such formations may be constructed with a single tube and the refrigerant will be substantially equally divided in its cooling effect among the several helices.

One of the objects of my invention is to make a cooler that will use a greater length of refrigerant tubing and thereby give a greater cooling effect, another object is to substantially completely surround each helix carrying the liquid to be cooled, another object is to cool each helix substantially the same amount, another object of my invention is to divide the entrance and exit of the refrigerant into two or more horizontal levels which will evenly distribute the cooling effect horizontally in each helix and in the surrounding liquid.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a vertical view of a beverage serving cooler, incorporating my invention.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view thereof.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the two sets of coils.

Figure 4 is a vertical view thereof.

Figure 5 a diagrammatic view of the horizontal division of the exit and entrance for the refrigerant tubes.

Figure 6 is a horizontal view of the divided refrigerant tubes as applied to a cooler of another type, and

Figure 7 is a vertical view of the same.

In the drawings similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The insulated and. lined cooling cabinet 1 has spigots 2 for drawing the beverage, which is usually kept in containers under pressure in another location. The beverage then passes from these containers through tubes 3 up into cabinet I, and in the cabinet, the tubes 3 are formed into spirals or helices 4, from which the beverage is drawn through spigots 2.

A refrigerant entrance tube 5 passes into the end of the cabinet, and the refrigerant passes through expansion valve 6, from which it is preferably divided by a Y into two branches, one of which 7 goes to the bottom of the cabinet to cool the incoming beverage, and the other 8, goes to the center of the cabinet to maintain and in- 5 crease the cooling of the beverage in the upper portions of the helices. There are likewise two exits for the refrigerant, one 9, from the center and the other H], from the top, and these merge through the Y joint into the single exit tube H 10 In Figures 3 and 4, for simplicity, the refrigerant tube is shown without the branches, as it may well be so used. The water level is shown at I2. Figure 5 shows diagrammatically the divisions in the refrigerant tube, and a Y form of joint is 5 preferable to a T joint because the refrigerant takes its desired. course without backing up in either branch. By dividing the entrance, the water around the tubes tends less to freeze at the bottom of the cabinet.

In Figures 6 and 7 I have shown this divided tube inlet and exit as applied to another arrangement of coils, in which the refrigerant coils do not pass closely around each beverage helix. In this structure, the cooling effect is not so great as in the preferred form shown in the other figures, but the divided refrigerant tubes nevertheless aid materially in creating an even cooling effect, horizontally, throughout the cabinet.

A greater length of refrigerating tubing being used in the preferred form of winding and this increase of tubing greatly increasing the exposed surface, the time of heat extraction is materially reduced. Surrounding each beverage coil with the same refrigerant tube cools each coil simultaneously and evenly, and placing the beverage coil closely inside the refrigerant coils speeds up the heat transfer. With this arrangement of coils, surrounded by a medium such as Water, I obtain substantially the speed of transfer as is obtained by the refrigerant passing in contact with the beverage tubes, and I obviate the danger of beverage contamination. In apparatus of this class Where water is used as a medium of heat exchange, the dispensed beverage usually fluctuates between and has a minimum low and maximum high temperature of 40 and 43 degrees respectively, the water or medium of heat exchange, is maintained between a minimum low and a maximum high temperature of 35 to 37 degrees respectively, whereas the refrigerant is introduced into the conditioning coils at approximately 20 degrees.

Upon the temperature of the dispensed beverage reaching its maximum high degree of temperature of 43 degrees and the heat exchange medium, or water, its maximum high temperature of 37 degrees, the conditioning coils begin to function by the introduction therethrough of the refrigerating element at a temperature of about 20 degrees. Thus as may be readily seen, it is necessary to consume a certain relative amount of time before the temperature of the beverage dispensing coils can be driven down again to their low minimum temperature of 40 degrees.

As it has been found very desirable to dispense certain kinds of cooling drinks or cold beverages at an approximate temperature of 40 degrees, it is important to lower this temperature of 43 degrees of the beverage coils to the desirable 40 degrees as quick as possible, and without any undue delay.

For purposes of providing means whereby this consummation of time to lower the beverage coil temperature to 40 degrees will not be necessary, I have interposed corrugated direct heat exchange plate members l between the helices 4 and the respective encircling portions l6 of the lemniscate type of basket weave conditioning coil I! as shown particularly in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. The plate members l5 may be held fast to the lemniscate coil I1 and the respective helices positioned therein by soldering or the like.

Referring particularly to Figure 6 of the drawings, I have provided the particular type of elongated helically wound outer conditioning coil I8 shown in this figure, together with the inner helical beverage coils 4, with direct heat exchange plates or fin members IS, the same may be soldered in fixed relation to the coils at the contact points 20, 2|, and 22.

The function of both types of direct contact heat exchange plates and fin members [5 and I9 are the same, in that when the temperature of the dispensed beverage reaches 43 degrees and the new supply of refrigerant is introduced into the conditioning coils at about 20 degrees by the usual automatic control apparatus for electric refrigerating devices of this class, the heat in the beverage coils is immediately withdrawn and absorbed by way of the direct heat exchange plates and the conditioning coils, thus immediately lowering the temperature of the beverage to the desirable degree of temperature without the usual delay of carrying off this heat indirectly by way of the bulky water heat exchange medium.

It should be fully understood that whereas the beverage is immediately cooled through this arrangement the refrigerant say at 20 degrees continues to course through the conditioning coils submerged in the water medium, cooling the water until the same has reached its desired predetermined minimum low degree of say 35 degrees.

The specific degrees of temperature referred to herein are used merely in an illustrative manner.

I have thus described specifically and in detail the preferred embodiment of my invention, the description being specific and in detail in order that the same may be fully understood as to construction, the manner of operation, applying and using the invention. The specific terms used herein, however, are used descriptively rather than in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A heat exchange apparatus comprising a plurality of adjacent cylindrical formations each adjacent pair being formed by a tube passing like lemniscates one above the other and providing a conduit for the conditioning fluid and a helix for fluid to be conditioned in each of said formations of substantially the same height as that of said formations, the fluid in the helices and formations flowing substantiallyparallelsubstantially throughout the course of the fluid in each helix, whereby the fluid in each helix is conditioned uniformly a corresponding amount at corresponding heights in each helix.

2. A heat exchange apparatus comprising tubes wound into an outer helix providing conduits for the conditioning fluid and a tube wound into an inner helix for fluid to be conditioned, an entrance for conditioning fluid adjacent the bottom and center of said outer helix and an exit for said fluid adjacent the center and top of said helix.

3. A heat exchange apparatus comprising tubes wound into a plurality of substantially parallel helices for fluid to be conditioned and a plurality of formations formed by a tube passing around alternate sides of each helix in a continuous course, each successive turn around each helix being above the previous turn, said tube providing a conduit for the conditioning fluid, the helices being of substantially the same height as said formations, the fluid in the helices and formations flowing substantially parallel substantially throughout the course of the fluid in each helix whereby the fluid in each helix is conditioned uniformly a corresponding amount at corresponding heights in each helix.

4. A heat exchange apparatus comprising tubes wound into a plurality of substantially parallel helices for fluid to be conditioned and a plurality of formations formed by a tube passing, each successive turn above the previous one, around each of the helices and overlapping between adjacent helices, said tube providing a conduit for the conditioning fluid, the helices being of substantially the same height as said formations, the fluid in the helices and formations flowing substantially parallel substantially throughout the course of the fluid in each helix whereby the fluid in each helix is conditioned uniformly a corresponding amount at corresponding heights in each helix.

5. A heat exchange apparatus comprising tubes wound into a plurality of substantially parallel helices for fluid to be conditioned and a plurality of sectional formations formed by tubes passing, each successive turn above the previous one, around alternate sides of each helix in a continuous course, said tubes providing conduits for the conditioning fluid, an entrance for conditioning fluid adjacent the bottom and center of each section of said formations and an exit for said fluid adjacent the center and top of each section of said formations.

6. A heat exchange apparatus comprising a cabinet having therein tubes wound into a plurality of substantially parallel helices of substantially the same height for fluid to be conditioned, a single refrigerant tube passing adjacent and substantially around each of said helices a plurality of times, and being of substantially the same height as said helices, the fluid in the helices and refrigerant tube flowing substantially parallel substantially throughout the course of the fluid in each helix, whereby the fluid in each helix is conditioned uniformly a corresponding amount at corresponding heights in each helix and a transfer medium in said cabinet surrounding said tubes.

7. A heat exchange apparatus comprising a.

plurality of adjacent cylindrical formations each adjacent pair being formed by a tube passing like lemniscates one above the other and providing a conduit for the conditioning fluid and a helix for fluid to be conditioned in each of said formations together with direct contact means between said helix and said formations at predetermined positions thereof for purposes of enabling the direct and immediate conductivity and exchange of .0 heat from said helix to said formations.

tube wound into an outer helix providing a conduit for conditioning fluid and a plurality of separate tubes wound into separate inner helices, forming separate conduits for fluid to be conditioned, said inner and outer helices having direct contact means positioned therebetween at predetermined positions of their surfaces for purposes of enabling the direct and positive exchange or heat from said inner helices to said outer helix.

HARRY R. RUSE. 

